Chapter 7: A Pharaoh in School

Neferu continued to impress Elise and even Chloe with how quickly she picked up the school’s subjects. She took special interest in math class and became fascinated by the modern numerical system. Neferu even offered to help Elise with the class assignment. “Math was never your field of expertise, my love. You were far too busy training with the other guards.” Elise sheepishly accepted her help.

Naturally, she excelled in art class. Neferu perfectly sketched the bowl of fruit the teacher prepared for them and asked for another subject to illustrate. The teacher encouraged her to draw whatever she wished. Neferu spent the remaining period drawing a picture of Elise rowing her down the Nile. Her work earned high marks from the teacher, who asked to use it as an example in future classes.

Elise sat across from Neferu and Chloe in the lunchroom. She prepared their lunches ahead of time and happily served them again.

Neferu opened the lunchbox and eagerly ate the food her beloved prepared for her. “This has been an enjoyable time so far. I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time.”

“Yeah, you’ve been doing better than I expected,” Chloe was forced to admit.

Neferu sat proudly. “I trained and studied for many years to rule Egypt. This much is nothing.”

Elise looked around and noted how everyone was too engrossed in their own conversations to pay attention to them. “Neferu, do you know why I don’t remember my past life?”

Neferu seemed surprised by her question. She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I do not know for certain. My father’s reincarnation spell has never failed. I can only assume that Ptahmose intervened to prevent your rebirth and used a spell to break my father’s spell.”

Elise was visibly stunned. “What? Why would anyone ever make a spell like that?”

“Well, Ptahmose and Setesh were likely reborn as well. Would you not have wished to prevent that?”

“Fair, but what’s going to happen to me?”

Neferu reached across the table and took Elise’s hand. “You will be fine. Your memories will resurface in time.”

Chloe grabbed Neferu’s forearm. “Sounds great. What happens to her more modern memories?”

Neferu turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Consider her a person of two books: the Book of Ahneith and the Book of Elise,” she began. “The Book of Elise sits open on a podium, ready to be read, and the Book of Ahneith is hidden beneath the sands. That book is slowly resurfacing, waiting to join its sister on the podium. When it does, these two books will join together as the Book of Ahneith and Elise, where not a single word is lost.”

Chloe gave her a flat look. “You could have just said, 'her past and present memories would merge,’ in less flowery language.”

Neferu grinned. “What is language without poetry?”

Chloe let her go and grabbed her fork. “Language without poetry.”

“Aww, you’re getting along. It’s so nice to see,” Elise quipped.

“Yeah, your harem girls get along, mistress,” Chloe replied in a wry voice.

“Keep it up, and I’ll buy belly dancer outfits,” she teased.

Chloe leaned forward and smirked. “Oh, honey, I already bought the apron.”

After lunch, Elise and Chloe led Neferu to the locker room. “Okay, we have gym next. Perfect for working off that spectacular five-star meal I prepared,” Elise explained.

“A necessary skill for my stay-at-home wife,” Chloe poked her.

Chloe pointed them to their new lockers, tucked away in a corner away from the main path. Neferu looked around, watching the girls get changed. “Hmm.” She conjured a curtain to block them from view. “They are unworthy to see our bodies.”

“Yeah, no one’s looking. We’re here to change into our gym clothes,” Chloe commented.

They quickly changed into their gym clothes, prompting Neferu to banish the curtain she had summoned before anyone could notice. Elise quickly grabbed a hairband and helped Neferu tie her hair into a ponytail. “Wow, your hair is really smooth. It’s like silk,” Elise complimented her, clearly impressed.

Nefer smiled. “Thank you, love.”

They rejoined the rest of the class and walked out of the locker room. “So, you have a flower in each hand now, hmm? How’d that happen?” one of the girls asked.

“Haha… It was completely unexpected,” Elise answered, completely flustered.

“What, did you date one, forget about her, then started dating another and just introduced them?” another mockingly asked.

“A surprisingly accurate guess,” Chloe joked. She saw Elise’s exasperated look and stuck her tongue out at her.

The class gathered outside to play soccer. Neferu listened intently as Elise explained how the game was played.

Elise asked her something private while the coach divided the class into even teams. “Neferu, I wouldn’t suppose you remembered when or why you might have told me, ‘Win, my love. Show them your true talents,’ would you?” A part of her knew the context was important.

Neferu thought for a moment. “That may have been when you were undergoing your final test to become a royal guard. You passed, of course. I was very happy when I could take you as my personal guard.”

“What was the test?”

“A sparring match against a fellow trainee.”

A knot formed in Elise’s stomach. “Setesh was my opponent, wasn’t she?”

Neferu’s expression darkened. “Yes.”

“And that’s it for the teams,” the coach announced. “Elise, you’re gonna have to sit out the first game. We have an odd number of students now.”

“Oh, okay.” Elise started to warm the bench and watched the teams form. A feeling of dread gripped her chest when she saw Chloe and Neferu on opposite sides. She knew things were tense between them, mainly because of her, and she still didn’t know what to do.

Her coach blew the whistle and sat beside her. “Sorry I had to bench you. It’s true we have an odd number of students now, but those skills of yours might have made gym class a bit one-sided.”

Elise tried to brush it off. It’s not like she could pull that stunt off again. “It’s fine, Coach Starrk. It was just a fluke, anyway.”

“Hah! Nonsense. You practice more than anyone else here. You’ll go pro one day, mark my words,” he encouraged her.

Elise perked up. “I’ve been talking to- Whoa!” Neferu and Chloe were going head-to-head on the field and had become the de facto team leaders in the short time she was talking to the coach.

Her girlfriends didn’t try to hide their exceptional physical talents from their classmates. They ran faster than everyone else by a large margin and showcased almost inhuman agility and accuracy. The goalies had no chance to stop Chloe or Neferu from scoring points, and that was only when the fierce rivals couldn’t steal the ball from one another.

“On the one hand, I should probably call a time-out because this isn’t the point of a team exercise. On the other hand, they’re actually really good. Coach Tanner might want to look at them for her team,” Coach Starrk debated with himself.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Elise told him. She ran off to meet with some friends who could help her put a stop to the field domination.

She returned a few minutes later, having changed out of her gym clothes and into a cheerleader’s uniform, complete with a pair of pom-poms. “Go, Chloe! You can do it!” she cheered. “Go Neferu! You’re the queen! Literally!” Elise did her best to perform the cheerleader’s routine, mimicking their dances and jumps.

Chloe and Neferu stopped in their tracks to watch their girlfriend’s performance.

“What…is she doing?” Neferu asked.

Chloe laughed in response. “Oh man, this might be better than the naked apron. Look at her go! This is one of my top ten fantasies: Elise as a cheerleader. I have to marry that girl.”

Her friends laughed and cheered her on, bringing the entire game to a halt. A few of them joined alongside her to put on a show.

Chloe and Neferu walked over to her, wearing matching smiles. The tension had completely evaporated between them. “Here, keep the show going.” Chloe slipped a dollar bill out of her wrist strap and into Elise’s waistband. She usually bought a can of soda from the soda machine after gym class, but this seemed like a better use of it.

Elise blushed. “Hey, I’m a cheerleader, not a stripper!” she barked. “Now take the bench while I go change.”

“Okay, okay.” Chloe motioned to Neferu to join her on the bench.

“Thank you, thank you!” Elise gave a dramatic bow as Chloe expected. She unintentionally gave the girls a peek up her skirt, and the spats she wore to cover her underwear.